Throughout April, as students and faculty were adjusting to a different learning mode, the main news on our website and groups in social networks has been concerned with online educational services, webinars and web-conferences. Pavel Khodyrev, the Vice-Rector for IT, E-Learning Development and Career Counseling, is answering questions about the transition which UdSU is undergoing at the moment.
– What does an educational institution need to provide for efficient distance-learning?
– Nowadays there is a variety of online tools at teachers' disposal for remote interaction with students. Many of them are open and can be accessed from internet-enabled home PCs and gadgets. So, in my view, successful application of distance-learning techniques largely depends on the fact whether teaching staff have the required expertise, skills, and willingness to use them, as well as the effective management of the process: planning of classes, information flow, and collecting feedback.
– Is there a university-wide strategy of shifting to distance learning or each institute is doing it on its own?
– All regulations pertaining to the current transition are adopted at the university level. Faculty can also get technical and methodological advice from centralized support teams. Thus, university is providing the opportunities to deliver and record online broadcasts of classes on such platforms as AdobeConnect, TrueConf, Zoom, YouTube. Every institute has rooms equipped for video conferencing sessions. Nonetheless, lecturers are not restricted to any tools or methods of teaching.
– Over 700 e-courses were designed at UdSU. How many of them have had to 'go live' recently?
– As regards the courses designed for UdSU e-Learning System during the teaching staff professional training in 2018-2019, each lecturer had one such course developed for full-time students. After the overall shift to distance-learning this March many lecturers chose to develop an electronic format for other courses they teach. Our technical team receives over 30 requests to launch new e-courses daily. The number of courses in the system has doubled in the past month.
– What programs and platforms are the most popular and why?
– The UdSU e-Learning System, Integrated Information Analytical System (IIAS), VK social network are the most demanded tools due to the fact that they are well-known to both teachers and students. Zoom and AdobeConnect video-conferencing services are also quite popular. Some Institutes recommend their students to enrol on open massive online courses run on various platforms.
